Jason knew that he couldn't do anything against Haepha's high defense.

But to see that she deflected the attack of the razor-sharp Byakur that was additionally empowered with mana was frustrating.

As such while being pushed forward through the explosion that occurred behind him, Jason executed his entire force, only for his aura to erupt.

Enveloping Byakur, it began to glow lightly while the soul imprints began to shine brightly activating the runes inscribed into the entire weapon.

Normally Jason would have to insert more mana into the soul weapon to activate all runes, but it looked like his aura had finally turned from the Celestia aura he had before that of his own, a being forced to walk the path of someone from the human- and the Celestia race!

As his aura was fully unleashed Haepha couldn't help but lift her eyebrows as she enveloped the arm she had lifted to block Jason's attack with a faint mana membrane.

Byakur was enveloped tightly in a mixture of white, silver and a golden membrane.

Nobody could tell what color was more vibrant, but all seemed to be important, visible at once, yet somehow not.

However, this was still not enough to injure Haepha who blocked everything with a small layer of mana enveloping arm.

After that, the fight turned into a still stand as Jason noticed that the whip Haepha had controlled slowed down drastically as it touched Jason's back.

He had thought that Solaris' mana nullifying ability would have been able to severe Haepha's connection to the whip she had used to attack him.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case and it looked like he lost the sparring for good.

However, the moment he retracted Byakur and Haepha retraced the mana around her arm, Jason could see a faint scratch.

There was hardly visible and the shallow scratch was not even deep enough to hope that it would start bleeding, but Jason was unable to suppress his joy as he shouted out

"YES!"

A moment earlier he had been extremely serious and ready to give his best to defeat Haepha, only to shout out in joy a moment later.

This confused Haepha more than anyone else who was already familiar with Jason's weird range of emotions.

She followed Jason's gaze that was trained on her arm and when she saw the faint scratch where Jason hat hit her, Haepha couldn't help but say

"That's unexpected!"

Though, instead of being disappointed, she felt that Jason would already be considered extremely powerful if he were to be below 25 years old, let alone being 16 years old!

Haepha was unable to suppress a smile as she saw how Jason, who could hardly control the sweat pouring down his temples, laughed out in joy.

'It's good that he can be happy in such perilous times'

When she was at her age, there had yet to be the mana outbreak, but after the meteorite shower that came out of nowhere, exploded, creating thousands of temporary and permanent rifts, everything had changed.

Now that she had lived for several centuries, she knew how hard it was to stay positive in times filled with war, and Haepha sincerely hoped that Jason would be able to stay like this.

Nothing should happen to him or the people around him because it would inevitably change everything about the way he acted right now.

From what she understood, Jason was already aware of the dangers lurking around them, and he looked like he had already worked hard before the foreign races began to openly wage war.

Clapping into her hands she said

"Now both your masters can demand something from me! Anything and any time!"

Jason, who had been happy before, couldn't help but look at Haepha seriously for a moment before he smiled brightly as he thanked her.

It was very beneficial to have two favors in total and Jason couldn't help but hope that his masters would use their favor well!

However, neither Shane nor Dalia required anything right now. As such, they simply said that they would save the favor for later.

Shane had already obtained everything he wanted from Haepha which were the expensive items they required to forge Jason's soul weapon, while Dalia was pondering about what she should ask for her favor.

"I'm not sure what your plan for the next months is, but I think resting for some time might be good too. At least as long as it's still possible. Even if it might only be a few days, a few hours or a week, resting is very important for the body and one's mind!"

Haepha said this, recalling that Jason wanted to rest for at least one day.

Everyone accepted this proposal because it was noticeable how worn-out their small group was.

Shane and Dalia paid attention to everything around Emily and Jason when they were at the large mana vein, and at the same time, they continued to forge and concoct many goods for future purposes.

They had already prepared lots of things one might require for the war because they couldn't evade it forever!

Meanwhile, Emily had never been so tired in her live, while the sheer mass of mana she had absorbed, overwhelmed her.

She was also 16 years old and had never learned many things because she was an orphan.

As such she had to overcome many obstacles others at her age didn't have to face anymore.

With that in mind, she worked relentlessly, as hard as Jason who didn't have any rest for more than a year.

Within the Mythic Garden, he had undergone many obstacles, while his body had undergone lots of changes since then.

A baptism, Petri's curse and the fact that his Celestia bloodline had been unsealed to a certain degree were very taxing to his body and mind!

Even if he worked hard, Jason was the last one to complain about resting for a few days.

While resting he could refine his physique after all!

Jason didn't feel any pain while refining his body which should happen under normal circumstances.

However, thanks to the soothing flame Solaris had, refining his body turned into something he liked to do!

With that in mind, they rested at Haepha's house for an entire month before they heard news about a foreign race that had suddenly decided to infiltrate the Shandra country.

Other than the foreign race, there were humans that had transformed, and their bodies had transformed tremendously.

They didn't look different than a foreign race anymore, and one wouldn't have been able to tell that they had been humans, if there was not the apparent fact that they had soulbonds!

The humans that followed the foreign race called Ifrytor, had their body filled with crimson-colored marks that looked similar to Jason's stigma.

However, the biggest difference was that those marks were not gleaming but shedding blood, indicating that the human body tried to repel the marks and everything that belonged to it.

Nevertheless, these marks and the extraordinary flames of the humans that belonged to the Ifrytor race had, made them extremely strong.

Their initial combat prowess was estimated to be at the Lowest Lique rank with more than 20 drops of mana liquefied, however, their strength was on par with someone at the Lowest Lique stage and less than 80 drops of mana!

The mysterious race that had protected Shandra country's territory had revealed themselves to fight against the Ifrytor race and Ifry, which was the name some citizens gave the transformed humans, but the numerical disadvantage was too high!

'It's time to leave?' Jason thought reluctant before he extinguished the stigma's glow, turning it into a mark that looked similar to a tattoo of a reversed wing.

Instead of doing nothing, Jason could tell that he had become unable to rest for more than three days. He was restless and felt useless, while his desire to do something was increasing by the second.

As such he started to work hard after resting for three days, in which he had refined his physique too.

Two days later, Jason finished the infant phase of the Netherworld fort technique which allowed him to enter the first stage, which increased his physical strength by a large margin, comparable to the enhancement one would receive from 10 drops of liquefied mana

Other than that, Jason was able to liquefy three drops of mana that had golden and silver strands within them.

His mana absorption rate was extraordinary since he had accepted his blood as a Celestia to a certain extent and Jason could only lament about the low amount of mana Canir had.

If someone else were to hear this, they would probably beat him into a pulp or curse at him.

Yet, Jason couldn't help but think that liquefying three drops of his slightly more unique mana drops that were three times more compressed, was nothing special.

He had to become much stronger, as fast as possible and the strength of a Grandmagus rank which he had attained was still not enough for him!

_____________

*Supreme release September notice*

Golden ticket ranking

Top 10= 3 chps daily

Top 5 = 4 chps daily